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2016 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Women Workers, Collective Action and the “Right to Work” in Madhya Pradesh

Author : Nandini Nayak

Published in: Social Movements and the State in India

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

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Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act enacted by the Indian Parliament in 2005, created a legal, justiciable “right to work” for all households in rural India and effected the implementation of the largest public works programme of its kind in the world. Adult members of all rural households were now legally entitled to “demand” work on publicly funded worksites, for “at least” 100 days per household per financial year. The enactment of the NREGA was significant, since this was the first Parliamentary statute that introduced a framework of universal, justiciable rights for the implementation of a “developmental” or poverty-alleviation program in post-independence India. This chapter discusses the significance of the NREGA for women workers. It also looks at the potential and limitations of collective action in enabling women workers to access their rights.

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Metadata
Title
Women Workers, Collective Action and the “Right to Work” in Madhya Pradesh
Author
Nandini Nayak
Copyright Year
2016
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59133-3_6